They're Just Being Affectionate, Right?
by Artemis08Luna
Summary: The five times everyone notices Kara, Oliver and Barry just be a little bit sweeter with each other than normal and think it's really cute, and the one time they realized why. KARIVARRY/SUPERFLARROW


_AN:_ _I HAVE LONG FALLEN IN LOVE WITH THIS SHIP BUT IT'S PRACTICALLY NON-EXISTENT AND THERE ARE HARDLY ANY FICS (NOR ART) ABOUT THEM SO HERE I AM, REMEDYING MY OWN DILEMMA._

 _A COUPLE OF THINGS THAT MUST BE ADDRESSED:_

 _—AS MUCH AS WESTALLEN AND OLICITY ARE ADORABLE ON SCREEN, AND SUPERCORPS WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME, I HAVE PROCLAIMED MY UNDYING LOVE AND HAVE DEEMED KARIVARRY MY ULTIMATE OT3 AND WILL PORTRAY THE PAIRINGS MENTIONED AS NOTHING MORE THAN PAIRS OF AMAZING PLATONIC DUOS_

 _—I DON'T ACTUALLY FOLLOW ARROW AND SUPERGIRL, AND I LOST TRACK OF THE FLASH SOMEWHERE IN SEASON THREE... BUT MAN DO I LOVE ALL THOSE CROSSOVERS... AND FANFICTION! BUT YEAH, MOST OF MY KNOWLEDGE IS JUST TAKEN FROM THOSE CROSSOVERS (BUT EVEN THEN I'M STILL CONFUSED. LIKE I HAVE NO IDEA WHO THOSE MASKED GUYS FROM ARROW ARE!)_

 _—I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING AND I'M SO SORRY. I'M MORE ACQUAINTED WITH THE MCU 'CAUSE I'VE KNOWN ABOUT IT LONGER AND FOLLOW IT MORE RELIGIOUSLY. I AM SO SORRY IF A LOT OF THE CHARACTERIZATIONS ARE A LITTLE BIT EXAGGERATED OR JUST COMPLETELY WRONG, BUT DAMN DO I LOVE THIS TRIAD SO MUCH BLESS THEM OH MY GOD THEY ALL DESERVE TO BE HAPPY!_

 _—WHY AM I TYPING IN ALL CAPS? BECAUSE IT BEST FITS MY PERSONALITY!_

* * *

 **1.**

If there's anything people are sure about Barry Allen—well, those who know about his superhero alter ego anyway—it's that he _loves_ his speed. Granted, it still gets him late sometimes— _ironic—_ but really, there's nothing more exhilarating than running so fast, you actually break the sound barrier and are practically flying.

For Kara, it's _actual_ flying that makes everything so great. Soaring through clouds, the wind against her skin... there's nothing more freeing than having the experience of gliding through the air, as if problems never even existed.

Oliver wouldn't and absolutely doesn't know anything about the _greatness_ or _exhilaration_ or _freeing_ experience of super speed or flying himself. Trust him. He'd know. Barry had whisked him away so many times, whether it had been due to trouble or just for his own amusement, that the more mention of _speed_ made him a little dizzy and possible nauseous.

Flying, on the other hand, sounds like it should be better in theory, right?

And... it actually is.

Great and just as quick, albeit a bit slower, as Barry's running without the whole _oh God I'm gonna puke_ , which makes it a-okay in Oliver's book.

The fact that Kara isn't a horrible person who'd pretend to drop him makes it even better.

Not that he'd say it out loud.

So, after another alien invasion had just been dealt with and they're all in the cortex, just sprawled out in different corners to rest, Kara just has to proclaim just how great it is— _again_.

"Oh it's _amazing_ ," Kara is saying to whoever, the only one actually really chipper in the room 'cause you know, she's an _alien_.

"Wha'zz amazing?" asks Wally, who's basically already asleep.

"Flying!" says Kara in a tone that said _duh_.

"Who's dying?!" demands Felicity, quickly sitting upright before she clutches her head. _Ugh, stupid head rush._

"No!" protests Caitlin lightly. She's burnt out from looking after everyone's injuries. "No dying. Not right now..."

"Buying? Who's buying?"

"Oooh, I want three cheeseburgers with lots'a pickles."

"Ew. Heathen..."

"Gimme fries!"

"I want pizza..."

"Ice cream?"

"Doughnuts!"

"Crowbars."

"Crowbars?"

"What? I said _p_ _rotein_ bars."

"Oh my god, shut up!"

Kara rolls her eyes and huffs a little, smiling brightly. She whooshes out of the room. She comes back not more than a minute later with thirty four boxes of pizza and five dozen doughnuts steady on one hand; a huge plastic bag in the other that is overflowed with nineteen burgers and a buttload of fries, balancing six gallons of different flavors of ice cream on top of that hand. On her back is a backpack filled with protein bars, candy bars and a bunch of other food.

It's a sight to see, really.

She placed all the food in the middle of the room on the floor, having no other place to put it on. The aroma alone is enough to rouse some of them to get them up, such as Mick, Wally, Alex, Cisco, Jax, Harry and Iris. Although, Mick frowns a little at the obvious lack of beer.

Kara grabs two boxes of pizza, four burgers and potstickers from the backpack before settling down between Barry and Oliver, who were both very much awake, just really tired. She places the boxes on Barry's lap, dropping the burgers on Oliver's and enjoys her own food as she contently leans towards Barry, who's busy shoving down slices of his favorite pizza into his face.

Felicity cracks an eye open because _is that Big Belly Burger she can smell_ when she sees Oliver smile, an actual _grin_ and not just the shadow of one as he leans towards Kara and kisses her cheek.

She and those who were now awake chowing down on the food don't miss the affectionate gaze he has on the blonde as he says with a smirk, "Thank _Rao_ for your flying."

The pair don't see Felicity and Alex fish their phones out because _oh my god I have to take a picture of this moment Oliver proves he's actually human capable of human emotions_ and _aww look at my sister being the adorable sunshine that she is._

The others—mostly the females; the guys and Sara are now too busy _inhaling_ food and _oh, yeah thank God for you Kara_ —are beaming 'cause _look, the three superheroes are bonding!_

Iris, too, takes a sneaky photo of Barry, who looks like he wants to marry Kara from the food alone.

* * *

 **2.**

It's been a quiet forty eight hours since the whole alien invasion when everyone had decided to just hang out because why not? They're superheroes, but that doesn't mean they aren't allowed some down time, or that they're dead.

Deciding which Earth to hang out on had been determined by a coin toss.

 _"Ha! Tails! You're all comin' to my Earth!"_

 _"Why did we do a coin toss? Man, majority of us are from Earth 1! Why did you insist we do a coin toss?!"_

 _"Hey, hey, dude! I'm sorry!"_

So, yeah, that's how they all end up in Kara's apartment in Earth-38—which she never thought of as tiny until all of Team Arrow, Team Flash, the Legends, specific members of the D.E.O. and Lena showed up—having a Harry Potter marathon after everyone quickly vetoed Barry and Kara's idea of musicals _very_ quickly, leading to the two pouting a little.

People still don't _really_ understand the glare they all got from Oliver, but it was quickly forgotten because _hey look McGonagall's a cat!_

Most of the people were settled down on the floor because Kara doesn't really have much space—

—and she basically hogs the couch, fully stretched out like a cat _and no she's not adorable, not at all, don't encourage her because she's a space hogger!_

But hey, at least there're actually more people on the couch; she's sprawled on top of Barry's and Oliver's laps so people didn't really complain too much.

Opposite of the three superheroes were two individual chairs occupied by Alex and Caitlin; one is an expert marksman and the other can freeze anyone's ass, so they let the two get their way.

By the time Harry's being possessed by Lord Voldemort towards the end of _Order of the Phoenix_ , Kara's bawling _and no, she's still a space hogger but damn, it's like looking at a kicked puppy._

Barry rubs her scalp and plays with her hair while Oliver rubs her feet, Alex notices, as if they know they're two of the most effective ways of soothing Kara.

Alex shrugs to herself. Sure, they're Kara's way of calming down, but it isn't just her that calmed down that way, so she chalks it up to experience on the boys' part. She turns her head and brings her attention back on the movie.

It's Caitlin who catches Barry drop a gentle kiss on the blonde's forehead, and it's Thea who catches her brother smile privately to himself as he observes Barry and Kara.

* * *

 **3.**

The next time they choose to hang out, about two weeks since the last time, they all agree to alternating between Earths.

So Kara had to transport Winn, James, Lucy, Alex, Maggie and Mon-El to Earth-1 (she had a little help from Cisco). J'onn had to stay behind in case something happens back on their own Earth and Lena doesn't come with 'cause she's still the CEO of a company.

It's Kara who ends up choosing what to do (eating, of course) and where to go (a Chinese restaurant because _potstickers)_. No one really wants to argue with her for three reasons: one, they're _starving_ so who cares; two, she looks really excited that she's practically bouncing on the spot and skipping as they walk so saying no would be the basic equivalent of one shooting a kitten; and three, the scowl from Oliver is mildly terrifying and the silent plea from Barry can give Kara's own puppy dog eyes a run for her money.

The restaurant they head to slightly panics at the great number of people ( _"Table for— oh god...")_ and in the end, they're just given a private function room; the fact that Oliver- _Freaking_ -Queen and Thea- _Holy_ -Queen are with them makes everything go more smoothly. Just as they are settled and they order, the restaurant goes into another mass hysteria from Barry's and Kara's orders _alone._

By the time six servers came back a half an hour later with three carts heaping with food, Cisco whoops.

Everyone goes into easy conversation about _everything_ and argue about _everything_.

Everything's going well and _hey we should hang out more_ when it happens: Barry takes a potsticker from Kara.

Mon-El chokes a little bit at this sight.

To those who knew Kara long enough, they know to _never_ take Kara's food. Kara has this thing for food: she _absolutely loves_ it and if you take it away from her, her bubbly and bright personality all goes too hell and it's actually really scary. The last time someone took three of Kara's doughnuts, the junior agent from the D.E.O., who had no idea all unlabeled food belonged to Supergirl, was on the receiving end of a harsh and terrifying lecture for over a half hour and ended up with a newfound fear for the Kryptonian and a broken desk.

So yeah, you _don't_ take Kara's food.

Alex, Winn, James, Lucy, Maggie and even Caitlin all watch with bated breath as Barry picks the potsticker up and bites into it, with Kara watching! They all wait for that little huff Kara does when she's trying to control her anger; they wait for the _crack_ on the table when Kara slams her fist into it; they wait for her to yell at him; they wait for him to flash out in horror.

But no.

It doesn't happen.

She actually beams brightly at him and—get this—offers more!

It's then Joe's, Iris', Wally's, Cisco's, Felicity's, Harry's and again Caitlin's turn not to have their brains explode when Barry—a notorious _non-food-sharer!_ —feeds his second potsticker to Oliver—a guy who _never_ lets anyone feed him.

* * *

 **4.**

Despite the fact that Starling City and Central City are roughly six hundred miles apart from each other, and National City is quite literally _a few universes_ away, the scattered formed teams of superheroes sort of made this pact under mutual agreement the first time they ever teamed up that they'd always be able to contact one another other to ask for assistance should they need it against a great foe or an impending crisis.

Or, you know, just call 'em and ask 'em if they wanna chill.

Right?

Right, and right now, the situation, unfortunately, falls under the first category.

Oliver releases yet another precise arrow, impeccable accuracy digging deep into the chest of yet another ( _God he hates stating it and yeah, this is his life now)_ zombie. "Barry, when you said you needed help—"

"Which he does," interrupts Kara as she landed, " _clearly._ " She grabs one of the zombies with ease before tossing him into several others, as if this were just a competitive game of bowling instead of undead people oozing into Central City like a slow infection. She shivers a moment in disgust as five of the zombies gets their heads broken, exposing rotting brains and popping out eyeballs. "Oh Rao, that's gross," she retches.

Zombies.

Actual literal zombies.

And no, they're not slow, groaning and hideous. They're _quicker_ and _stronger_ than the average human, they're _screechy_ and they're actually recognizable people, only distinguishable from the living by the absolute rage in their eyes and torn clothing. And no, they are _not_ hungry for brains; they're driven by violence and bloodlust, which are obviously such a _great_ combination.

"How is this even happening?" demands Dig, shooting one in the face twice to make sure it's actually dead—as in dead- _dead._

"This isn't our fault this time!" says Cisco defensively from the S.T.A.R. Labs cortex, watching out for any strays that may leave the concentration of the fight. "Some psycho-meta rose the dead to start a _freaking_ army!"

"So it's your fault?" says Felicity slyly, sucking on a lollipop as she assists Cisco in surveillance.

"I'm not seeing how this is our fault." Cisco spares a brief glance at Harry, who is busy with Caitlin concocting a cure—if it _i_ _sn't_ a crisis right now, he'd totally be geeking out—for civilians who had not been dead yet but had been infected. Thankfully, there'd been only a handful, and are now contained in their individual cells down in the pipeline. "Harry, was there any implication in what I just said indicating it's our fault?"

"S.T.A.R. Labs was directly responsible for _accidentally_ creating metahumans on multiple occasions." Harry doesn't bother looking up, even when Caitlin stops for a moment to look at him, slight shock coloring her features. "So yes, Ramon, this entire apocalypse raining down on this city is your fault."

"Hey!"

"At least we're not—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Barry!" grunts Oliver. He swings his bow at a zombie that gets too close and _almost_ effectively cuts his head clean off, save for the part where it gets stuck at the spine. _Great,_ he thinks as he kicks the zombie off his bow. _Now my bow is covered in zombie guts._

"What?" says Barry, sounding confused. He zips around the outskirts of the war against the undead with Wally and Jesse, making sure they gets to those who were off on their way into the city. "I was just gonna say—"

Felicity snorts. "Barry, you lovable idiot, you don't just say _'at least'_ in a situation where things could potentially become worse. Trust me, I'd know."

"If I was going to be a hundred percent honest," starts Thea as she covered her brother's six, "I thought zombies would be more badass."

"It's _not_ _?_ " gasps Cisco, as if scandalized.

"Dude, we're covered in zombie guts," Wally points out.

Cisco scoffs. "Mark of a great battle against the undead!"

"Let's here you say that again when you come here and..."

The rest of Barry's sentence end up dying in his throat when he comes up when he comes face to face with his very much not dead _father_. Logically, he knows he's not his father anymore, that his team is practically screaming in his ears through the earpiece, demanding if he's okay, that he should _not_ stop to a standstill in the middle of an apocalypse. But he isn't quite rational right now. He's lost too many people that each loss marks him with a darkness that pulls him further away from hope.

The world is blurry and his eyes hurt. In fact, his whole chest hurt. His father is staring at him, enraged and huffing.

His team's still talking, but not to him anymore. He vaguely hears someone say something along the lines of "anxiety attack" but he isn't too sure.

All he's truly sure about is that his dad's right there for the first time in _years_ , just five steps from him.

Before Henry Allen could attack the Flash, soft hands cover his eyes before he hears the telltale sound of an arrow being released and, soon enough, the sound of it piercing into flesh.

Barry's knees give out on him and the hands worm their way around him, protectively wrapping around him in an embrace, going down with him.

Is it just him or has it always been this difficult to breathe?

"Shh, shh," says Kara soothingly, his addled mind unable to detect the helplessness caught in her throat; he just knows he's safe in her arms. "I know, Bar, I know."

"I think we got all of 'em," Dig reports as he guns down the last two zombies left in pointblank range. "Felicity?"

"Yep. Definitely all gone. Nope. I don't see anymore zombies."

Barry still struggles, still can't breathe, still has his chest hurting. Kara takes off the mask from his head and honestly, it's much worse with the mask off now because she can see every line of pain and fear written on his face. His gaze far away from where they are, her heart twinges in pain for him.

Oliver makes his way to them. His whole demeanor, usually unreadable, gives away just how _worried_ he is. He _knows_ about Barry's guilt for every death of a loved one and every death of a loved one's loved one; he carries all the blame on himself. He crouches down on one knee and his grip on his bow tightens as he watches Barry's vacant yet pained stare into the night, his breathing sounding worse than it does through the earpiece.

Oliver meets Kara's eyes and have a whole unspoken conversation between them before giving each other stiff nods.

Kara effortlessly lifts Barry up and transfers him into Oliver's waiting arms.

"We'll meet you later," says Kara to the rest of the team, adopting a somber and slightly panicked tone that almost sounds foreign with her usual perky attitude.

Oliver, silent, gives the small collection of superheroes that came by to help a nod as he weaves his way through the rubble, with Kara flying closely behind him.

Dig, Thea, Roy, Wally and Jesse don't comment, having just witnessed Oliver Queen—of all people—successfully calming Barry down from his panic attack by simply holding him.

It's made especially harder to _not_ say anything when they noticed Oliver actually cuddling Barry a little as Kara swooped down to place a kiss on the meta's forehead.

* * *

 **5.**

Five days later, they're all back in Earth-38 and this time, it's to _party!_

The travel to Earth-38 had gone much more smoothly this time around 'cause Cisco called Gypsy.

They all head into National City's most upscale club, and it really helps that Lena's with them.

Barry and Kara shrug to each other. They don't care about getting drunk; they just wanna have a good time with their friends.

That is until Mon-El shows up with alien alcohol that they throw away any inhibitions and drink like there's no tomorrow.

Caitlin asks the Daxamite to spare her a little bit of the liquor as she hands him her empty water bottle—thank _God_ she brought her water bottle. She grins at his confusion and explains she wants to replicate it for people with a high metabolism i.e. Barry.

Not even two hours later and most of them are drunk, with Barry and Kara being the most intoxicated ones out of all of them.

"Oh my God, _I love this song!"_ exclaims Kara excitedly, slurring her speech a little. Alex, almost drunk but not quite yet, giggles. No, Kara does _not_ like this song _at all_.

Kara pouts _and how the hell is she adorable even though she's very much a-hundred-and-ten percent drunk?_ "I'm hungry," she informs Barry, who doesn't look like he's listening and is instead staring at Oliver, who's been nursing his drink for the past hour.

"Wha?" says Barry incoherently, forcing himself to look back at the blonde.

"Ge'me _foooood_ ," whines Kara. She shakes Barry a little to put in more effort into her begging.

Barry stumbles a bit from being roughed up by a super strong alien and, when he kind of gets his bearings, pouts too _and wow is this a cute pouting contest 'cause no one's losing._

Oliver rolls his eyes and abandons his drink. "I'll get you food."

Kara squeals, smiling radiantly as she throws her arms around Oliver—probably a bit too roughly, judging from Oliver's almost indecipherable wince—and kisses him.

On the lips.

Pretty much everyone from their group is watching them now.

It isn't a scandalous kiss; it's just a peck on the archer's lips, pulling back as she says, "You're the best, Ollie."

Oliver's lips twitch upward. "I know."

Kara squeaks in joy once again as she lets go of Oliver and puts her attention back onto Barry. She grabs hold of his hand and tugs him to the dance floor, yelling about needing to dance as Barry enthusiastically agree ( _Iris snickers to herself; Barry can't dance club dances to save his life. In fact, she's pretty sure he_ can't _dance)._

Everyone, while inebriated, is still processing what happened—Kara kissed Oliver and is now grinding against Barry. When Oliver came back with food, Kara spots him and dashes her way over to him, thanking him the same way she did earlier.

Some are cooing at how adorably affectionate Drunk Kara is, while others are already planning to get Barry and Kara drunk again in the near future, which earns Cisco a balled up napkin thrown at his head by one Oliver Queen.

* * *

 **+1**

Still in the club and still have no plans of leaving any time soon, it's nearing one in the morning when some dude, who'd been leering at Barry since they got here, follows him to the bar, where Barry's getting another plate of fries and onion rings for him and Kara.

He corners Barry and no one can hear the conversation between the two, not even Kara, who's had her senses dulled from the effects of the alcohol but now sobering up a little.

Okay, now they definitely know it's not a civil conversation when the guy forcefully brings Barry's face down for a kiss.

Iris and Wally quickly stand from their booth to deck the guy and keep him away from their brother, but two other figures beat them to it. Oliver roughly pulls the guy away from Barry as Kara pulls Barry into her arms. Barry, mind still muddled from the sheer amount of alcohol he'd taken and not really understanding what's going on, hugs Kara closer to him.

The guy had the audacity to smirk at Oliver as he raises his hands and backs away, coming closer to the group.

Earth-38 should really be introduced to the Green Arrow and his brutality so punks like this one know to _back off_.

"Aw, protective are we?" mocks the idiot. Oh he'll get a taste of what Oliver's like when he's being protective. "You gonna hit me?"

Everyone in the group can see the pure and unadulterated rage in his eyes, but to a stranger, it'd probably just look like he's unbothered.

"No," says Oliver casually, almost sounding amused. "She, on the other hand, might."

The dumbass casts his line of vision to where Oliver's pointing, and sure enough, Kara's stalking towards him with a vengeance—

—that makes her look so damn hot.

The guy, unfortunately for him, is unable to get even a single word of his lame pickup line out when her fist connects with his nose. She is the absolute picture of _frightening_ that even Gypsy and Mick are a little rattled _and oh wow she kinda looks like the evil Nazi version of herself now_.

Kara glares at him and it's all just so wrong with her face. "You fool around all you want, but you stay the _hell_ away from our boyfriend."

The brains of the others shut down.

 _Boyfriend?_

More importantly, _their_ boyfriend?

They don't notice when the guy doesn't even say anything as picks himself and his wounded pride up to leave—and hopefully never comes back.

Wait, so Kara and Oliver and Barry... are dating? Like all three of them? With each other?

"Oh my god," groans Felicity as she brings her hands up to rub her face.

"I know," says Iris.

"Everything makes sense. How did we not notice? Or did we actually notice and just not care? Oh my god, are we bad friends?"

Whatever someone else is saying dies down when they hear Barry mumble, "thanks, babe." Felicity looks up just in time to see Barry peck Kara on the lips, to which the blonde happily receives.

Barry turns his head towards Oliver, who'd been watching him with caution. "You, too," says Barry, grinning as he kisses Oliver's cheek.

"HOW DID WE NOT NOTICE?"

"MAN, WE ALL NOTICED! WE JUST THOUGHT THEY WERE BEING REALLY AFFECTIONATE WITH EACH OTHER! HAVE YOU ACTUALLY MET KARA AND BARRY?"

"B-But Oliver! Dude's actually smiling more! How's that even possible?!"

"Ha! He's been smiling a lot more since Kara and Barry forced him into a group hug—oh my god!"

"Oh my god!"

"What?!"

"That was _ages_ ago, right?"

"Yeah, like a year ago!"

"Are you telling me they've been dating for a year and we didn't know?!"

"Well, why didn't they tell us?!"

"Maybe they weren't ready, you asshole!"

Through all their arguing and debating, none of them noticed Barry, Kara and Oliver slipping away, probably back to Kara's apartment to watch musicals and eat ice cream and overall be the happy team that they are.

None except Iris, Thea and Alex, who all smile secretly to themselves, thankful their siblings had all found love and happiness with people that can understand the demands of being a superhero and the importance of a secret identity.

* * *

Oliver does not and probably will never admit that he really does love flying with Kara as they zip their way to her apartment, with him on her back and Barry in her arms.

So he does the next best thing and kisses the back of her head and watches Barry grin from ear-to-ear, content.

* * *

 _AN: So..._

 _ **KARA DANVERS:** LOOKS LIKE A CINNAMON ROLL BUT COULD ACTUALLY KILL YOU_

 _ **OLIVER QUEEN:** LOOKS LIKE HE COULD KILL YOU AND WILL ACTUALLY KILL YOU_

 _ **BARRY ALLEN:** LOOKS LIKE A CINNAMON ROLL AND ACTUALLY IS A CINNAMON ROLL_

 _Thank you for reading! Feel free to leave a review._


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